Home Made Pizza

I made a tasty vegetarian pizza.  The base was a little thick. Next time, I will make more pizza’s with the same amount of dough.

·         1 cup grated cheese (mozzarella or cheddar)

·         2 cups mushrooms

·         1 cup sliced peppers (green, red, yellow)

·         1 onion sliced

·         2 cups whole wheat flour

·         1 package active dry yeast

·         ¾ tsp salt

·         1 cup hot water

·         1 tablespoon vegetable oil

·         1 tablespoon sugar or honey

·         tomato sauce (onions, oregano, salt, chilli flakes and  tomatoes fried in 1 tsp oil)

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees.

To prepare the pizza dough combine flour, yeast and salt.  Blend in the water, oil and honey or sugar.  Stir vigorously until all the ingredients are well mixed.  Place the dough in the bowl, cover and leave aside to rise for about 30 minutes.

Roll out dough into pizza shape, about 3 mm, place in the greased  pizza pan or round baking dish, and press the dough down. Add tomato sauce and decorate the pizza with the remaining ingredients and bake for 15 – 20 minutes   or until the crust is golden brown.  The remainder of the dough can be used to make more pizzas or refrigerated for a couple of days.

Banana Bread and Disaster

I recently tried making a proper Thai Green Curry and it was an unmitigated disaster.  The reason for that, of course, was that I could not bring myself to use coconut milk in a dish.  The thought of all those calories freaked me out, but I will try again with some sort of reduced fat coconut milk.

I did manage an  awesome eggless banana bread.  I sneaked in some mixed seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, sesame and linseeds) for added nutrients.

Banana Bread

2 cups sugar

125 g butter/margarine

4 mashed bananas (over-ripe ones are preferable)

½ cup mixed seeds

2 tablespoons lemon juice

½ teaspoon salt

2 cups self-raising flour

½ cup lukewarm water

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and grease a loaf tin. Cream the butter and sugar well. Add the the mashed bananas mixed seeds, lemon juice and salt and mix well.  Fold in the flour.  Mix the bicarbonate of soda into the warm water and add to the mix once it has reached a doughy consistency.  Load the dough into the loaf tin and smooth out the surface.  Bake for 45 minutes to an hour.